With the oft-discussed superfight between Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre not happening anytime soon, or at least on hold while St-Pierre gets ready to face Nick Diaz in March, it would appear Silva may be short on options.

For Michael Bisping, the solution for whom the UFC’s middleweight champ should defend his title against next is a simple one: Bisping.

Bisping (23-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) is a month away from a headlining spot against Vitor Belfort (21-10 MMA, 10-6 UFC) at UFC on FX 7 in Belfort’s home country of Brazil. On Monday, Bisping told AXS TV’s “Inside MMA” that he believes a win over Belfort makes him the top contender for Silva (33-4 MMA, 16-0 UFC) and the 185-pound belt.

“For me, Christmas is coming late this year,” Bisping said. “Normally, it’s Dec. 25, (but) for me, Christmas is going to be Jan. 19 when I go down to Brazil, beat the living snot out of Vitor Belfort and take my title fight, my rightly deserved title fight, my long overdue title fight.”

Bisping said no one from the UFC has said outright that a victory will get him the title shot. Silva most recently defended his belt in July at UFC 148, when he stopped Chael Sonnen in the second round of their rematch to extend his UFC record for most title defenses to 10 and run his UFC streak to 16-0.

After Bisping’s most recent win, which came at UFC 152 in September with a unanimous decision win over Brian Stann, UFC President Dana White said he believed a fight between Silva and Bisping could be a good one.

Prior to Bisping’s win over Stann, he dropped a unanimous decision to Sonnen at UFC on FOX 2 this past January. That win for Sonnen earned him his rematch with Silva. The fight was a close one, and even Sonnen said afterward it could have gone either way.

“I haven’t personally heard anything from Dana or the UFC,” Bisping said. “I heard him on the weekend say I’d probably get a shot at Silva if I beat Belfort. I honestly believe that I would deserve it. In my mind, Vitor Belfort is the hardest fight in the middleweight division outside of Anderson Silva. My last fight was against Brian Stann. Before that, it was a controversial loss against Chael Sonnen. Before that, I hadn’t lost a fight since 2009. So if I beat Vitor, I think I definitely deserve a shot, I’m definitely the No. 1 contender and I’ll look forward to facing Anderson.”

Silva appears to be content to take some time off to wait and see what his options are. It looked like a pound-for-pound superfight with St-Pierre might be in the cards after St-Pierre defended his welterweight belt against Carlos Condit this past month. But instead, GSP will defend his title against Nick Diaz in March. A win there, in theory, could keep a possible fight with Silva on the table – but it also has been suggested that if St-Pierre does agree to that fight, he might move up to middleweight and stay there. With other potential challengers, including Johny Hendricks, waiting in the wings, he may not be ready to make the move up any time soon.

As for Silva, the question will be how long he wants to sit out. His first-round TKO at light heavyweight against Stephan Bonnar in October didn’t appear to take much out of him. So Bisping could become his next option with a win.

And Bisping believes he has the right type of game to make that happen.

“Yeah, Vitor hits hard and he knocks people out,” he said. “Brian Stann, my last fight – he hits hard, he hits fast and he knocks people out. That wasn’t a problem for me. This fight, I believe I’ve got more tools than Vitor. He’s got a great submission game, but I believe I can counter that and I’m not afraid of that. It’s funny how (Brazilian jiu-jitsu) black belts go to white belts when you start punching them and elbowing them in the face. So he’s going to have to prepare for that. I’m going to fight hard, and I’m going to fight fast. Vitor’s good for the first minute, the first round, and after that, he tends to wear a little. This is a five-round fight, and I believe that’s better for me and I truly believe I can finish Vitor in his own backyard.”

If the fight with Silva were to happen later in 2013, Bisping admitted it’s a daunting challenge. But he said he had no intentions of being the next in a long line of Silva challengers who have been thoroughly outclassed by the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter. Only Sonnen, in his first meeting with Silva, came close to beating him.

Belfort is on that list – Silva knocked him out with a front kick to the face at UFC 126. Belfort followed that up with two first-round stoppage wins. But in a light heavyweight title fight against Jon Jones in September, he was submitted in the fourth-round.

“Anderson is, rightly so, regarded as the pound-for-pound best,” Bisping said. “What can I do? I’ve never gotten in with him – I don’t know. (But) I believe in myself, I believe in my skills, I believe in my training, I believe in my ferocity as a fighter. I’ll get in there and I’ll fight him. I certainly ain’t going to fall down like some of these bums have done lately.”

UFC on FX 7 takes place Jan. 19 at Ginasio Estadual Geraldo Jose de Almeida, also known as Ginasio do Ibirapuera, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The night’s main card airs live on FX following prelims on FUEL TV and Facebook.

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